Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Pittsburgh Branch facts for kids
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Pittsburgh Branch Office is one of two branch offices for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The other office is in Cincinnati. This office in Pittsburgh helps handle savings bonds for the whole country. It's one of only two places in the nation that does this!
The Pittsburgh branch serves parts of Ohio, West Virginia, and all of Western Pennsylvania. For example, it covers counties like Jefferson, Monroe, and Belmont in Ohio. In West Virginia, it includes Wetzel, Tyler, and Pleasants counties, among others.
The Old Building
The original building for the Pittsburgh branch was built in 1931. It was designed by a famous architecture firm called Walker and Weeks. The building was seven stories tall. Later, in 1958, a 10-story addition was built, making the whole space much larger.
The outside of the original building is made of Georgia marble. It has a special design style called Art Deco. You can see three cool sculptures on the facade. These sculptures were made by Henry Hering and represent mining, agriculture, and business. In 2001, this building was named a historic landmark in Pittsburgh.
Changes and Moving Day
For many years, the Pittsburgh branch of the Federal Reserve Bank helped process all the US Savings Bond transactions. They shared this big job with the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis. This service was provided to the US Treasury.
Hundreds of people worked at the Pittsburgh office. But as technology improved, more and more things could be done electronically. This meant fewer people were needed for the job. The US Treasury decided that only one Federal Reserve location was needed for savings bond processing. The Minneapolis office was chosen to be the only one.
Because of these changes, the staff at the Pittsburgh branch was greatly reduced between 2011 and 2012. The number of employees went from about 320 down to only 25.
In October 2012, the Federal Reserve branch office moved to a new location. It moved to One Oxford Centre at 301 Grant Street in Pittsburgh.
The old building was sold in July 2013 for $3.75 million. It was bought by M&J Wilkow. Later, it was sold again to Drury Hotels. They planned to turn the historic building into a hotel by mid-2016.
